England Cricket Board (ECB) on Wednesday named the playing eleven for the third Test match against India in Rajkot, as pacer Mark Wood replaced Shoaib Bashir in the playing squad.
After witnessing scintillating performances from youngsters Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) vice-president Rajeev Shukla is hopeful that India will win the second Test against England.
At Day 3 stumps, England are 67/1 in 14 overs while chasing 399 runs, with Zak Crawly unbeaten on 29 off 50 balls with the help of three fours and a six and night-watchman Rehan Ahmad is unbeaten on 9 runs from 8 balls which was laced by two fours.
Ollie Pope's 196-run knock helped England to take an advantage as the visitors scored 420 runs at lunch on day 04 at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Sunday. Meanwhile, India need 231 runs to win the first Test match.
England stand at 172/5 against India after the end of the second session at tea break in the first Test match on day three at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Saturday.
At the end of stumps on Day 1, India were 119/1 and trailed England by 127 runs with Shubman Gill and Jaiwswal unbeaten on scores of 76* and 14* respectively
Ahead of the first Test match between India and England on Thursday in Hyderabad, English wicketkeeper batter Sam Billings on Wednesday said that Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja will be the biggest challenge for the visitors.
After England's disappointing four-wicket loss against the West Indies in the third match of the series at Kensington in Bridgetown on Sunday, skipper Jos Buttler said that they were up to the mark with the bat.